"May the
question be asked whether the intention to eliminate the leaders of IS or 'chop
off the head of the dragon' is a good strategy? One cannot escape the
impression that the successful attack on Osama bin Laden failed to immediately halt
the fundamentalist terrorism he wrought. Under the contrary - the idea that you
can put a stop to this barbarism with even more repression, more weapons and
more bombing may prove to be a particularly expensive delusion."

In his King's Speech at the opening of the Dutch Parliament, King
Willem-Alexander
brought up the fact that the situation in northern Iraq, Syria and Gaza also leads
to tension and insecurity in the Netherlands. International unrest, according
to him, puts the resilience of Dutch society to the test. Therefore clear
choices are needed, he thought, which, according to him, are fortunately being
supported by a broad majority of the House. Then followed an
announcement that the Defense Ministry's budget would be substantially boosted
for the first time in 24 years.

It sounds familiar. Here, too, with the international
tensions and without too much critical thinking or debate, the public is being pushed
to go along with a "coalition of the willing" against IS. Here as
well, ordinary Muslims are being called upon to distance themselves from a barbarism
that they have nothing to do with. It is also symptomatic of how the largest
planned military purchase in decades - the replacement of Belgian fighter jets,
has evoked almost no public discussion, whereas less than 20 years ago this
would likely have resulted in large demonstrations. Now, though, even in tight
economic times, there no longer appears to be a price limit on geopolitical
security.

The operation against IS will be conducted by a broad
coalition, but for now still without a United Nations mandate. When the Bush
Administration did the same against the Iraq regime, it garnered criticism from
around the world. Today Obama gets nothing but applause.

Posted By Worldmeets.US

But is one permitted to think it a little hypocritical that
the international community has for years refused to do anything about the war
in Syria and the thousands who have been killed there, but now that the entire
region has sunk into madness, it finally wants to act now that Westerners have
been beheaded? The tens of thousands of people from the region already
massacred by IS were clearly less important. May one question whether we are
slightly exaggerating the potential danger of IS to Belgian society? Anyone who
does, like terrorism expert RikCoolsaet,
is promptly affixed with the label "revisionist."

May the question be asked whether the intention to eliminate
the leaders of IS or "chop off the head of the dragon" is a good
strategy? One cannot escape the impression that the successful attack on Osama
bin Laden failed to immediately halt the fundamentalist terrorism he wrought. Under
the contrary - the idea that you can put a stop to this barbarism with even
more repression, more weapons and more bombing may prove to be a particularly
expensive delusion.